Beth and Birthdays

This weekend was full of lots of fun.  On Friday night we went by the house, but I forgot my camera!  They had put up the staircase so we were able to go upstairs and check out the two guest rooms and the bonus room.  It is all looking awesome and I can't wait until the drywall goes up because I think we will really be able to tell how it will look when that happens.  We supposed to get windows/doors on Wednesday and then early next week the electrician comes.  Its moving along really quickly, I am so excited!

On Saturday we went to the Beth Moore simulcast of her "So Long, Insecurity" conference in Atlanta.  It was awesome!  It was obviously based in insecurity and how it has plagued our generation and gender for too long.  Her message came from these verses:

"You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness."

-Ephesians 4:22-24

She went through six points of what a secure woman is and it really made me think about how women's insecurities stop us from being the women that God created us to be.  The basis of her message was finding your security in Christ alone because He is the only thing that can truly keep us secure.  Realizing that God loves us unconditionally and for who we are.  I cannot wait to read her book and will hopefully be able to say "so long, insecurity!"  Here are some pictures of us from the conference.

That morning we met at Starbucks before to get us some much-needed coffee

I am kinda new to the whole go to Starbucks and order a fancy coffee thing, so I was a little bit nervous ordering.  I had to get some help from some coffee pros.  I ordered a skinny vanilla latte and it was delish, I will definitely get it again!  I guess I was so nervous that they thought I said "melissa" not "alyssa," but actually that happens to me everyday that I can't blame it on my nerves.  Note: When naming your child make sure they are able to say the phrase "I'm _____" with ease.  For example, moms need to rethink the name addison because "Im Addison" sure sounds like Maddison.  My whole life I have had to avoid the phrase "Im Alyssa" because 100% of the time they say "hey Melissa!"         Sorry I digress, back to the conference. 

Some of our group on our lunch break

Christy, Emma, and Mandy modeling the book for us :)

Just hanging out waiting for Beth to come back on!

On Saturday night we went to Ben's birthday party at the pool at our clubhouse.  We grilled out hamburgers and hot dogs, played corn hole, and just hung out.  It was a lot of fun and the rain even held off for us!  Ben even got a water balloon launcher for his birthday so we definitely had to try it out. 

The birthday boy grilling us some burgers!

Brad and Matt hanging out 

So after most people had left the party Ben, Brad, Ben, Matt, and Jonathan all decided to invent a new game called Frisbee Tennis (or Frinnis or Tennbee or ultimate tennis...whatever they decided on, I cant keep it straight).  They played for like 4 hours and made up 100 rules for this game.  So many rules that I couldn't even keep them straight.  They were all sweaty and sore, but I guess they had fun haha.  Overall, the party was lots of fun and I think Ben had a good birthday!

done.

That's right...I am done. Finished.  No more school forever!  WOO HOO! I finished up my last exam around 4 yesterday, hung out for one more celebration with my classmates, and then headed out to celebrate with Matt.  Matt and I went to Influzions.. a sushi place in Mt. Pleasant and it was really, really good.  We are members of restaurant.com and so we got $25 off, which is always a plus! We tried this roll called the Palmetto roll with teriyaki chicken, crab, shrimp, asparagus, cream cheese, and some other stuff... it was pretty good! 

After dinner we went to get some ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery, which was equally as delicious!  When I got home it was weird that for the first time in my entire life I didn't have to think about what I should be doing for school...kinda weird feeling, but very nice.  So the long journey from 4 year old kindergarten has wrapped up 21 years later and I am no longer a student. Not gonna lie, feels pretty good.

Weekend/House Progress

Last Thursday I traveled with my mom down to Atlanta to get my grandmother who had been staying with her niece.  On the way you know we had to do some shopping!  If you know us, you know that we are BIG fans of Pottery Barn, so if we are going by (or within 30 miles of) a Pottery Barn Outlet (affectionately known at PBO) we HAVE to stop.  So we took a little detour and stopped by the one that is right outside of ATL.  After five minutes of being there I went ahead and told my dad to go ahead and go rent this...

I ended up finding a couch, a super cute chair, a coffee table, two lamps, and two end tables.  All for our new family room in our new house!   There was so much more I could have bought, but I had to reign myself in!  I am so excited to get into our house and see how it all looks.  Here is a picture of the inside of our U-Haul-

After we came back from Atlanta we stayed in Lexington to hang out with my grandmother and play on the lake.  The water was a little cold, but it didn't stop me from begging Lauren to ride Super Mable.   I made a promise to her that she wouldn't fall in the water and that is would be a nice, slow ride.  Well that was before Richard decided to ride too.

Here we are riding nice and easy...until Richard does a front flip and sends Super Mable nose-diving into the water and drowns us.  I held on, but Lauren on the other hand...

Went swimming in the 50 degree water...she was not happy.

But she was a trooper and hopped back on and finished the ride!

Until she fell off again.

Grandma enjoyed the boat ride :)

When we got back on Sunday we went by the house to see the progress, and we got a pleasant surprise.  They framed the house!

This a view of our master bedroom and bathroom

All the windows haven't been cut out yet and some of the wood looks a little crazy, but its coming along!  I stopped by again yesterday and all the windows were cut out and the roof had been started.   I can't believe its actually starting to look like a house! Closing date: June 30th!

Beloved Disciple

I have had a new discovery...and by no means is it novel or breaking news...its actually very old news.  I love Beth Moore...I mean duh, what southern, christian woman doesn't!  My mom has always done B. Moore Bible studies so I kinda associated them for "older women" no offense, but the problem was I had never tried it.  I guess the saying "don't knock it until you've tried it" really does apply here.  Our small group just finished Beloved Disciple and it was AMAZING.  Beth Moore has such a way of walking you through scripture and it becoming alive to you.  She made me feel like me and John (the beloved disciple) were BFF.  I learned so much through this study and have grown in my faith as well.  Beth Moore truly has a passion for the Lord that is so contagious you cannot help but catch it.  Our small group has already planned out the next two studies were are going to do and guess what...they are Beth Moore.  We are currently trying to read as much of "So Long, Insecurity" as we can because we going to a simulcast of her conference this weekend.  Anyways, just wanted to share with any of you that have been unsure, intimidated, or opposed to doing a Beth Moore study that it is SO worth it and you will not be disappointed!  I wish I would have a long time ago :)

Movin' on Up...

It seems like we have been waiting for years to finally get to do this.  We have planned it a hundred times in our heads.  We have dreamed of when and what it would look like...and its finally here!  Matt and I are buying a house!!!  We are beyond excited!  It is in Carolina Bay which is in West Ashley.  It is a new construction so it won't be complete until very late June (just in time for our free tax money).  

Here we are signing our life away :)  I was REALLY nervous and scared.  I don't know why...I had just never spent that kind of money before.  I know technically we didn't spend the money that day that we signed the contract, but it was still pretty scary.   I am so indecisive that it only made it worse.  After much prayer about it, I know now that I am 100% sure we did the right thing and I am SOOO excited about our house.

My amazing mom...uh, I mean realtor!  It made the experience 100 times better having my mom be there and know everything to ask and double check for us.  

SO MUCH TO SIGN!

Placing our sold sign on our lot :)

We went back and visited (like we will do 100x) about 2 weeks later and they had some progress!  That is all our plumbing.  This is the view from the back of the house to the road.  To the right is the kitchen, breakfast room, and dining room.  To the left is the master suite, master bath, half bath, laundry room, then the garage is in front of all that.  It looks so much smaller before all the rooms were divided up.  

There is Matt in his garage :)

Another day...still posing with our sold sign haha!  The house will probably take over this blog :)  I am going to document every little stage in the process and cant wait!  It will be mostly for our own benefit to have a record of it all.  So now we are just on the countdown of moving out of our apartment and waiting for our house to be built.  God is good and we don't for a second take for granted all that he does for us.  Our prayer is that this is house that will glorify God and be a refuge to people in need...overall we pray that we use this house to further serve HIM and His kingdom. 

"But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."

Joshua 24:15

Dog Park Adventure with Bella and Samson

Sorry it has been forever since I have posted.  I have honestly been so busy...there has been tons going on!  With the end of grad school quickly approaching, it seems like my to do list keeps getting longer and longer.  In the midst of all the craziness I found some time the other afternoon to take Tiger to the dog park with Holly and Ben and Samson.  Emma and Stephen came also because they got a dog, too!  They got the cutest golden doodle puppy named Bella about a week ago!  She is only 3 months old...shes gonna be a big one!

Isn't she so cute...she looks like a little polar bear cub :)

Tiger met a friend that made him look TINY...and that is hard to do!  That dog was unbelievably big in person!

He is very smiley when we take him to play at the park!  Doesn't he look like one happy dog?

Samson and Tiger played in the water like you would not believe! Both being labs they are obsessed with the water.  They were so funny!

Bella preferred to watch the big dogs swim for most of the afternoon.  Stephen tried his hardest to get Bella to swim.  Golden Doodles are supposed to love the water, so maybe there is hope that she will be a swimmer!

Here is Stephen, the "dog whisperer" haha.  He kept trying to just call Bella into the water, but all the dogs kept coming to him, haha.  You can see how Bella is getting a little more keen on the whole water issue. 

Those two little black dots would be Samson and Tiger...just swimming after some ducks, haha.  Of course they could never catch any, but it made us laugh watching them try!  We had actually never taken Tiger over to the dog park at James Island Country Park.  We had always just taken him to other parts of the park.  Its always been SO crowded and just didn't want to deal with that.   It ended up being really nice and it wasn't crowded at all.  We will definitely go back!

The Final Push

I just realized that I have been a full time student since I was four..which means I have been a student for TWENTY ONE years!  That is a long time.  I think that means I am up for retirement from my first and only career as a student and I am ready to move on.  It is kinda scary to leave all that you have known and move onto a brand new phase of life.  I have mastered the whole student thing- I am like a professional student.  School is almost weirdly comforting to me because it has been my whole life pretty much.  I am finally getting that anxious feeling of being ready to move on and conquer the working world :)  Yesterday I made giant to-do list of everything that stands before me and graduation.  Although there were some big obstacles on there (including one more 10-12 page paper I need to be writing right now), it didn't seem too overwhelming and I feel like I might actually do this!
So my cap, gown, and hood have all arrived and are set and ready for graduation, my to-do list is made, and interviews are planned...things are lining up.  It will be nice to actually get paid for seeing patients instead of paying MUSC to have the "privilege" of doing so.  The lack of motivation for my to-do list is the only issue.  I can't seem to actually sit down and make the final push to knock it out.  It will get done, it always does, but I need a little extra motivation for these last few items.  So I guess I will find some motivating music or something and get it done.  Once this paper is done I just basically have one giant exam (on everything covered in grad school...sigh...) and I am DONE.  That exam is April 22 and after that I am a free woman! That is only 21 days...or three weeks and I am finished.  Surreal? Yes.  Exciting? Very!  Scary? Afraid so.
Sorry this post was pretty much just a ramble of what is going on in my head, but hey it put off writing that paper for just a few minutes so it was worth it!